Waylon Jennings

Phase 1: The Early Years 1958 - 1964

+Covers, tributes
*Produced by Buddy Holly, who also played guitar

Compilation released 2002; Hip-O Records; 314 584 096-2

Waylon Jennings will be forever linked with Buddy Holly; he was a protégé of Buddy Holly, who bought him a new guitar to enable him to play support on that last tour; it was Waylon who gave up a seat in the 'plane, for Buddy Holly to joke "I hope the bus breaks down", for Waylon to reply "I hope the 'plane crashes" - a joke that haunted him for years.

This album combines tracks evocative of that period, when boundaries between genres were breaking down and being rebuilt, when new names and new styles were spreading across the popular music world. There's a rich variety, showing more sophistication than I remembered, and the album includes two tracks with Buddy Holly's production and guitar (1, 2), plus several indications of the debt that Waylon Jennings always acknowledged (4,5,18).

From the Hip-O Records web site (with permission):

"Waylon Jennings belonged in the Country Music Hall of Fame long before his induction in the fall of 2001. Like fellow musical freedom fighter Willie Nelson, he wrested creative control of his music from Nashville producers during the early 1970s, and after doing so, achieved greater fame than he (or Willie) ever enjoyed before. While their battles alienated many in Nashville’s music business establishment, within a couple years, they proved their detractors wrong. Their successes – together and separately – broadened country’s audience."

"Before all that, Waylon Arnold Jennings was a little-known Southwestern singer, songwriter and disc jockey. He became who produced his first record and took him along on what became Holly’s last tour. Waylon began his singing career in the clubs and recording studios of Texas and Arizona and, as time passed, formed a musical vision that formed the bedrock of his later achievements."

Waylon Jennings died in February 2002.